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News Article

Marine Killed in Anbar Province During Security Operations

American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, March 22, 2005  A Marine assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force was killed March 21 while conducting security and stability operations in Iraq's Anbar province, military officials in Baghdad reported.

Citing security policies, officials provided no further information about the incident. In other news from Iraq, a raid today in Kirkuk by Task Force Liberty soldiers netted three suspects in a rocket attack on a coalition base there. That attack occurred March 21, and caused no injuries or equipment damage, officials said. Multiple rocket fuses and AK-47 assault rifles were seized.

In a separate incident, a tip by a local citizen led Iraqi police officers to a large weapons cache along the Tigris River, just north of Tikrit, March 21.

An Iraqi police quick-reaction force team raided the site and found numerous anti-personnel mines, mortar rounds, rocket-propelled grenades and 155 mm artillery rounds. An explosive ordnance disposal team destroyed the munitions at the site.

Troops from the Iraqi army's 102nd Battalion, 22nd Brigade, and U.S. soldiers from 2nd Battalion, 8th Field Artillery Regiment, detained 10 people suspected of insurgent activity during a cordon-and-search operation south of Mosul today.

Soldiers from 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, detained eight suspected insurgents March 21 in Mosul and found a weapons cache. The cache included three RPG launchers, four RPG rounds, two automatic weapons, two AK-47s, an artillery round and a hand grenade.

In southeastern Mosul on March 21, soldiers from 1st Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, detained two suspected insurgents at a checkpoint, and the Joint Coordination Center reported a call-in tip from an Iraqi citizen about a possible car bomb in western Mosul.

U.S. and Iraqi security forces arrested a suspect March 20 in the recent murder of a civilian contractor employee who worked on a coalition military base. The suspect was arrested in Duluiyah in Salah Ad Din province, officials said. The military said Iraqi officials believe the suspect also was responsible for recent improvised explosive device attacks against the citizens of Duluiyah.

"There is no future for the insurgency here in North Central Iraq," he added.

In other news, the coalition opened the new Iraqi Army Support and Services Institute on March 21 with an inaugural class of 153 students from the 1st Division of the Iraqi Intervention Force.

The students are divided into six classes: transport supervisors, wheeled maintenance, armored maintenance, supply supervisor, basic logistic officers for supply, and basic logistic officers for maintenance and transport.

A coalition team of 12 officers and 17 enlisted personnel serve as instructors for the 30-day training program. Multinational Force Iraq officials said they aim to have four divisions trained through the program by September.